State lawmakers convene in Stockton for gun hearing

STOCKTON — Twelve months ago, it was abundantly clear Stockton was on its way to shattering the record for homicides in a single year.

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By The Record

recordnet.com

By The Record

Posted Aug. 23, 2013 at 4:24 PM
Updated Aug 23, 2013 at 4:25 PM

By The Record

Posted Aug. 23, 2013 at 4:24 PM
Updated Aug 23, 2013 at 4:25 PM

» Social News

STOCKTON — Twelve months ago, it was abundantly clear Stockton was on its way to shattering the record for homicides in a single year.

2012 ended with the violent deaths of 71 people — one killing almost every four days — the third-highest homicide rate in American large cities, behind only Detroit and Oakland.

But homicides in 2013 are down 60 percent and nonfatal injury shootings are down 50 percent.

What’s happening here now, considered a multifaceted success story, was the focus Friday of a unique hearing in Stockton convened by the California Assembly Select Committee on Gun Violence in the East Bay.

The strong similarities between the violence occurring in Oakland and Stockton prompted the committee’s chairman, Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, to invite Stockton’s Democratic assemblywoman, Susan Talamantes Eggman, to join the committee. But she said she would accept only if Bonta agreed to hold a hearing in Stockton.

Eggman, a city councilwoman before she was elected to the Assembly in November, felt that perhaps Stockton’s efforts at reducing violence — especially in light of its severe financial constraints — should be shared with the East Bay Area and the rest of California.

“In the city of Stockton, we have a history of guns and gangs. When we are looking at a model of what is working (to reduce violence), I think we have done very well,” she said in opening up the hearing.

While scheduled testimony at the hearing came from a wide range of sources, one concept was constantly touted.

“There is a strong sense of collaboration and agreement in Stockton,” Bonta said.